


Greyscale Universe

by DisguisedasInnocent



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Soul Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 13:19:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3938278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisguisedasInnocent/pseuds/DisguisedasInnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The stories of Soulmates tell tales of colours in the world. Colours that begin upon meeting the heart that will unlock your eyes. Yet, reality doesn't work like the stories, and sometimes, the colours are harder to understand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Greyscale Universe

There’s an old story, passed down through the generations, which explained the greyscale nature of the world and the occasional, and sometimes fleeting, bursts of brightness. The story goes that the world is grey, different shades of grey, deep greys and light greys but still fundamentally it is grey. Then, the story continues that if by chance, fate, or luck you meet someone that awakens your heart the grey will change. It will shift from greys, to blues, to greens, to yellows, and soft reds. Colour will sink back into the world, because it always existed, but without your heart’s awakening, your eyes could not see it.

Now, Laura never believed in these tales. 

It wasn’t that she didn’t find the idea romantic, or satisfying. No, it was that she couldn’t understand the idea of her father standing by her Mother’s hospital bed and seeing the colours fade out of existence. That was the end of the story, it was the one sentence at the end that was meant to act as a warning; the colours will disappear if your other heart disappears. 

Laura hasn’t ever asked her Father about his colours, and he’s never told her, because both of them prefer the soft sadness of denial that the cold grey of acceptance. At least in this one thing. 

That meant that when at the beginning of term at Silas University Laura’s eyes began to detect the subtle shift of yellows in the flowerbeds or the bright blue of the sky she ignored it. She didn’t think back to which person she had been near when the colours appeared, or whether they jumped and pulsed when someone came into her presence. No. She ignored the colours. She ignored the softness of the yellow sunlight and the coolness of the green grass underneath her toes. She ignored the way that the trees’ thick brown trunks intermingled with green leaves and white lichen. Laura preferred to ignore the way that more colours sank into her vision the longer she remained at Silas University. 

Laura accepted the colours, but not the story. Yet, even the colours she ignored.

Until, she couldn’t.

Until, they disappeared.

She ignored the colours until they flowed from Carmilla’s lips as the vampire stood at the edge of the abyss. “You know,” She’d said with a rueful smile on her lips and a soft gleam to her gentle chocolate brown eyes. “I’m starting to hate this heroic vampire crap.”

Laura ignored the colours until Carmilla leapt. 

Then, she couldn’t ignore them anymore.

She couldn’t ignore them because they didn’t exist.

Colour faded back out of Laura’s vision. It began with the brown of Carmilla’s eyes. It continued with the bright yellow of her pillowcase, the one that held Carmilla’s scent in amongst its fibres. The yellows of the flowerbeds disappeared and the soft greens of the grass faded back into muted greys.

The world faded from a technicolour wonder back into a greyscale disaster.

Then, Laura understood why her Father never spoke of her Mother’s death. Then, she understood why he stared wistfully at the photographs on the mantelpiece as if they depicted anything other than the dreary grey of existence, because they had for a time. 

After seeing colour Laura’s universe lacked substance in grey.


End file.
